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Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Dec 14, 2012

View waves from a new vantage

American photographer Clark Little gives nonsurfers a chance to see what they're missing in a series of pictures he is showing at the "Clark Little Photo Exhibition" in Tokyo.
CULTURE / Music
Dec 13, 2012

For jazz fans in Japan, 2012 marked the arrival of a few new divas and some great gigs

For a genre that critics and musicians have been declaring dead for more than half a century, each year nevertheless sees new artists dipping their toes in the vast ocean that is jazz.
Reader Mail
Dec 13, 2012

Marching orders to the Japanese

The Dec. 2 Timeout feature, "Japan's whistle-blower supreme speaks out," misses several points. Former Olympus Corp. chief Michael Woodford is not quite the hero the article portrays. Woodford was brought in to help a company in trouble, and failed.
Reader Mail
Dec 13, 2012

First, a solution to nuclear waste

The Dec. 7 editorial "Addressing the nuclear power issue" makes blanket criticism of the antinuclear parties, saying they "must present realistic proposals." Strangely, this is after the editorial notes Nippon Mirai's proposals of (1) getting rid of nuclear power in 10 years, (2) putting "a cap on the...
Reader Mail
Dec 13, 2012

Apathy a hopeful sign for whales

Regarding Rowan Hooper's Dec. 9 Natural Selections column, "World still waits for Japan to stop being apathetic about whaling": I'm surprised Hooper didn't mention the whaling lobby in the Diet, who pressed whalers to go out this year. Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research didn't want to strain its...
Reader Mail
Dec 13, 2012

Wrong presumption in taxation

Regarding Franz Pichler's Dec. 6 letter, "Immoral accumulation of wealth" (which was a reply to Joseph Jaworski's Dec. 2 letter, "What's wrong with [tax] avoidance?"): Pichler states that he has never heard of double, triple or even quadruple taxation in the way Jaworski uses it. A simple example of...
Reader Mail / NOTES ON A SCORECARD
Dec 13, 2012

Rethink gender-parity principles

Regarding the Dec. 9 editorial "Gender parity task force": On the basis of the results of similar initiatives to date, the prognosis for any meaningful results ever arising from the "task force" is dim at best. Why has Japan waited so long to even acknowledge the obvious gender disparity blatant in every...
Reader Mail
Dec 13, 2012

Perpetuation of U.S. 'occupation'

Regarding the Dec. 9 article "Okinawa takes base row into its own hands": One plank of the platform on which the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP) is campaigning is that Futenma air base must not remain at its present site. That's fine. In this regard, the LDP and the Democratic Party of Japan...
Reader Mail
Dec 13, 2012

Abe remark belies his refinement

Regarding the Dec. 10 article, "Taiwan president Ma urges Japan to apologize for using sex slaves during WWII": Like many Japanese politicians with a remarkable education, Liberal Democratic Party leader Shinzo Abe appears to be a gentleman. But his remarks are often unexpectedly shocking, especially...
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Dec 12, 2012

Israel Iron Dome could spur or hinder progress toward peace

Yakov Stern was born nearly 60 years ago in the young state of Israel, and in one way or another, he has been fighting for its survival ever since.
BASKETBALL / NBA / NBA REPORT
Dec 12, 2012

Knicks may live up to hype this time

There's an old question you hear around the NBA sometimes. It goes like this: What's the definition of a dynasty?
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 11, 2012

Some election campaign rules outdated, quirky

From Hokkaido to Okinawa Prefecture, 1,504 candidates are campaigning for the 480 seats up for grabs in Sunday's Lower House election.
COMMUNITY / Issues / JUST BE CAUSE
Dec 11, 2012

Do Japan a favor: Don't stop being a critic

Remember grade school, when the most demanding question put to you was something as simple as "What color do you like?" Choose any color, for there is no wrong answer.
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Dec 10, 2012

Otani postpones MLB dreams, decides to play for Fighters

Hanamaki Higashi High School phenom Shohei Otani said Sunday he has decided to join the Nippon Ham Fighters, doing an about-face after proclaiming he wished to join the major leagues directly from Japan.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 9, 2012

The ends of the world

We are doomed. Are we doomed? December 21, 2012 is 12 days away. The world will end on that day, says the ancient Mayan calendar. Or does it say that? Whether it does or not (most experts now agree it does not) other dangers loom — a fatal "galactic alignment," a mysterious wandering planet on a collision...
JAPAN / Science & Health / NATURAL SELECTIONS
Dec 9, 2012

World still waits for Japan to stop being apathetic about whaling

It was hardly the result the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) hoped for, or expected.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Dec 9, 2012

There are 'snow monsters' who can help save Tohoku

Yes, it's true. Spending some money on skiing among snow monsters and soaking in hot-spring baths is a good way to help the Tohoku region of northeastern Honshu recover from the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, the terrible tsunami it triggered and the ongoing nuclear crisis that followed....
Reader Mail
Dec 9, 2012

Fat chance of facing up to past

Philip Law's letter of Dec. 2, "Gaining respect, not losing face," with its hope that "courageous citizens" will take a stance in favor of facing up to Japanese history, is flogging a dead horse. There can be little chance of anyone bringing Japan's actions in World War II to light while the police here...
Reader Mail
Dec 9, 2012

Wrong man to run a company

Regarding the Dec. 2 Timeout article "Japan's whistle-blower supreme speaks out": Former Olympus Corp. President and CEO Michael Woodford deserves full credit for his accomplishments with Olympus in Europe, and for bringing the appalling status of corporate governance in Japan to a largely naive audience....
Japan Times
BASEBALL / MLB
Dec 9, 2012

Granderson sharing passion for baseball on tour of Asia

Curtis Granderson doesn't have to be here. He's got money; he's got fame; he's been an MLB All-Star three times; and, well, he's a New York Yankee.
Reader Mail
Dec 9, 2012

Perception as the standard

Regarding the Dec. 6 Kyodo survey article, "LDP set to win majority in general election": Japanese voters are being presented with the same false dichotomy that voters around the world face every few years — the "choice" to give power of attorney to a stranger to extort some concession for their majority...
Reader Mail
Dec 9, 2012

Burden on an ambulance crew

The Nov. 20 Alice Gordenker column, "So, what the heck is that?" — about emergency announcements — reminded me of the strenuous efforts that a Tokyo Fire Department crew made when my mother died about four years ago, as well as the painstaking job of the TFD and some troubles it faces in doing its...
Reader Mail
Dec 9, 2012

Show the translation difficulties

Thanks for Paul McCarthy's Dec. 2 review of Fumiko Hayashi's novel, "Floating Clouds." But I have one request for next time: Could the reviewer say a few things about the interesting differences where the two languages, English and Japanese, meet?
Reader Mail
Dec 9, 2012

Questions about infrastructure

Regarding the Dec. 5 Kyodo article "Panel will probe road infrastructure problems": Metal fatigue is a well-known problem in the aerospace industry and in automobile racing, among other fields. Vibration can cause nuts on bolts to loosen.
Reader Mail
Dec 9, 2012

Responsibility for self-protection

Regarding the Dec. 5 editorial "Dangerous moves on supreme law": It is a testament to just how far to the left political discourse is in Japan when the idea that Japan should take responsibility for protecting itself is labeled "dangerous."
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 8, 2012

Arab leaders ignore crowd dynamics at their peril

In 1896, the social psychologist Gustave Le Bon warned his contemporaries of the dangers of crowds, writing that, "It is necessary to arrive at a solution to the problems offered by [crowds'] psychology, or to resign ourselves to being devoured by them." As spontaneous protest overtakes organized political...
BASKETBALL
Dec 8, 2012

89ers-Albirex rematch called off

The Sendai 89ers-Niigata Albirex BB game on Friday was canceled due to the 7.3 magnitude earthquake (at 5:18 p.m.) and, the tsunami that followed in Tohoku.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic